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Tuesday, December 06, 2016

This article originally appeared in the Discovery Education blog "Kathy Schrock's Katch of the Month" in November 2016 and is re-posted here with permission.______________________________________________________________

During this season of debates and political commercials, the
stereotypes, biases, and negativity seem to have taken over civil
discourse. As our students watch the televised political debates, read
the responses on Twitter or Reddit, or view the video responses from
those with an agenda, they need to understand how to value someone
else’s point of view and balance it with their own thoughts and beliefs
to form an opinion.

POINT OF VIEW

Learning how to look at things from a different point of view and how
a point of view can change someone’s version of an event, can start
with our youngest students. The ILA/NCTE site has several lesson plans
that target point-of view.

The Big Bad Wolf: Analyzing Point of Views in Texts,
in addition to an opening activity where students are assigned a point
of view when listening to a story, the teacher reads aloud two different
versions of the traditional fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs. Using
a Venn diagram, students compare and contrast the story’s events from
the various points of view presented in the two books. The teacher
follows-up with a reading of the The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Scieszka), which
is told from the point-of-view of the wolf. Students then have to
re-write a fairy tale from the point of view of an object or character
in the tale, such as the pea in The Princess and the Pea or the bean in Jack and the Beanstalk. (Grades 6-8)

Discovery Education offers a video segment and supporting materials for teaching point of view for grades 3-5.

Point of View :
“This segment presents a facts about circus master P.T. Barnum and
compares two author’s points of view about the entertainer. A follow-up
activity asks students to analyze point of view in a magazine article.”
(4:43)

RESPONDING TO OTHERS

I have always believed, when responding to others in a public forum,
my comments should be positive or neutral– never negative. If I have a
critical response to the author of an article or post, I simply send it
to them directly, whether in a direct message in Twitter or via email. I
try to be constructive in my criticism and also want to have the chance
to use as many characters and words as I need to to get my point
across. I don’t want to get in a debate over something in a public venue
and only have 140 characters to respond with!A popular method of feedback I use when responding to my graduate
students comes John Wooden, famous college basketball coach.
His coaching methodology is sometimes referred to as The Sandwich Method.

Ashely Hurley, a professional development specialist, penned a useful post in 2014 titled “The A-B-Cs of Giving Feedback to a colleague“.
She provides examples and methods of how to keep the feedback
accessible and action-oriented, how to focus on the basic information,
and connecting the feedback to the content. Ashley also includes links
to additional information about feedback. Even though this post is about
teachers giving peer feedback, the same tenets can easily be applied to
support students during student-student feedback.Debating is a form of targeted feedback and there are some great
resources for those who wish to debate, whether in person or online, and
do so with clarity and purpose. I love this strategy from Marco Witzmann in
an article about how to become a great debater. The article goes into
much more depth than the following, but the main components of the
strategy are:

State: use clear wording in one short phrase, stating your point

Explain: Use the word because to explain why your point is valid.

Illustrate: Use examples to illustrate your point and make the audience identify with your arguments

Students can learn about this strategy and then, while re-watching a
political debate, keep a tally on how well the debaters did in each of
these three areas. Was their main point understood? Did they explain why
they took that stance? Did their examples help or hinder their
presentation of their main point?Simon Frasier University, located in Canada, offers this concise overview of how to debate
which includes the basic debating skills of style, speed, tone, volume,
clarity and eye contact as well as the content components of the
argument including the case and the rebuttal. Again, once students
understand the parts of a debate, they can dissect a political debate
using this information as a starting point.

Essentially Speaking “is
a teaching strategy that provides a structure for students to prepare
for a debate after encountering a new piece of media or collection of
information. Students identify their key points and evidence that
supports them before arguing one side of the debate.”

Tug of War “is
a teaching strategy that develops students’ abilities in the arts of
deliberation and debate. To create a tug-of-war activity, students are
placed in two groups to argue opposing sides of an issue, using
reasoning and evidence.”

3 truths…1 Lie “is
a teaching strategy that helps students focus on the key takeaway of a
particular concept. Students will create three truths and one lie, based
on the digital selection.”

Gone Fishin’
“is a teaching strategy that allows students to practice presenting
their opinions in a respectful and productive manner. Students are given
deep and debatable questions and small groups have informed discussions
in front of the rest of the class.”

LISTENING SKILLS

Of course, in order to understand someone else’s point of view or
dissect a debate, students need to know how to listen. It is too easy to
get caught up in wanting to respond and interrupt with your own
opinion. Learning how to listen is a practiced skill and Discovery
Education offers resources to help students attain this important skill.

Listen Up
“is a teaching strategy that encourages students to either watch or
listen carefully…Students switch roles between viewer and listener and
assist each other in putting the pieces together to understand a piece
of media.”

Developing Your Listening Skills:
In this 1:53 video segment “Slim Goodbody gives examples of how to
become a better listener. He also explains that when you are a good
listener you hear the meaning and feeling behind the words which lead to
better communication.” (Grades K-5)

Are you listening?: This lesson plan takes students through two different ways to listen. Grades 7-9

Social Skill- Active Listening:
This is a 23-page packet which teaches students about active listening
and has them actively listening during both the lesson and in real-life
situations. Grades 9-12

These
practical skills of thinking about point of view, learning how to deliver critical feedback, and the process of actively listening to others are important as our students grow to be the voters and
leaders of the future!

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